Redemption – This Jolly Beggar

Written for Rochelle's Friday Fictioneers 
Word count: 100 words or less
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City of Peace

     “What are you thinking?” Avram asks me gently as we walk in the shadows of the old city.
     “’O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem!’”¹ I quote. “Why so much suffering, Avram, the blood that has flowed across the centuries into this day?”
     “Our hands bear that guilt.”
     “And sickness, earthquakes, floods?”
     “Do you wonder nature suffers as part of the judgment on us?”
     “The curse!” I snort.
     Avram speaks quietly. “The Maker of the Universe has not left us without blessings, of which He is the foremost, or redemption, because of His love.”
     “I only see hatred.”
     “Then that is all you will find.”

¹Luke 13:34 — “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!“

Psalm 69:32
When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
Acts 17:26-27
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us ….